Welcome to CWEE

Empowering families to become self-supporting since 1982

The Center for Work Education and Employment (CWEE), is Colorado’s first 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that assists low-income families in gaining the skills and education necessary to transition off of public assistance (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF), and gain long-term employment. CWEE’s purpose is to reduce poverty in Colorado by creating self-supporting families.

Vision o

CWEE is leading Colorado in overcoming the constraints and disparities of poverty, cultivating self-supporting families, and optimizing collaborative partnerships.

Mission .

CWEE fosters personal and professional transformation for low-income single parent families through confidence building, customized skills training, and career advancement.

Values .

Collaboration, Excellence, Inclusiveness, Integrity, Innovation

Participant Testimonial

By: A. G. M.

Employer Spotlight

I reached out to CWEE to participate in their Career Development program because I needed help. I had reached the depths of my despair, not knowing who to turn to for help. All I wanted at the time was a quick fix to my employment problem: I was mentally exhausted from throwing out applications every day without generating a positive response. I was beyond frustrated, but I knew not to let the frustration fester – instead, I channeled all that energy into seeking help.

I thought all I needed was someone to tell me what was wrong with my resume, or fix the way I was presenting myself through my documents. I had to humble myself, swallow any pride I had in my educational or work accomplishments thus far, and face reality.

I came to CWEE with a patient-doctor mentality. I thought they would diagnose my problem, give me a prescription, and send me out the door.

The first day at CWEE was rough. I wanted to bolt. But I decided to keep an open mind and give the program a chance.

I wasn’t afraid to express to Miss Zenzal, one of the instructors, that I was at CWEE because I wanted a job. She very calmly told me that I wasn’t there to get a job. A light bulb went on inside my head. I knew what she meant right away.

There were things that brought me to CWEE, things that I needed to work on, before I could even think of getting a job. I needed to acknowledge and come to terms with what was really holding me back from the career that I desired.

Long story short, I returned to CWEE the second day and never looked back. I went through a self-discovery journey. I recognized that I had something to gain from this program, and that it was designed this way for a reason. The attitude you bring to CWEE is going to determine whether you walk out fulfilled, or go back to your old self, unhappy and unchanged.

Time flew by, and 8 days in Phase 1 of the program felt too quick. Phase 2’s computer literacy training was a piece of cake: I have a degree in computers, but I still learned something I didn’t know in MS Word. That is a new skill in my bag now. Pretty soon, I was in Phase 3, working on my resume and cover letter, interviewing skills, and the application process. I give a lot of credit to the Employment Services team: they are masters of their trade. Networking events at CWEE opened new avenues for me, and mock interviews with people from the finance industry (where I want to wind up) just filled my cup.

Before I even graduated from phase 3, I had a job interview lined up with a financial organization. Many more connections and opportunities keep floating in each day.

If I had to summarize my time at CWEE, it would be with this Thomas Jefferson quote: “If you want something you have never had, you’ve got to be willing to do something you have never done.” I’ve learned to never want to give up on anything before trying it.

To help better support out career seekers' successfully transition into and retain customer service positions, CWEE reached out to 24-7 Intouch in June of 2017 at a career fair. After receiving a business card from one of their recruiters, the foundation for a successful partnership flourished.

24-7 Intouch came to CWEE for a tour and meet & greet with our career seekers. Seeing how well CWEE's career readiness program aligned with their company's focus on not only attracting new talent, but retaining talent, 24-7 Intouch quickly agreed to support CWEE in a number of ways. Their Senior Sourcing Manager joined our Employer Advisory Council and her recruiters signed up to be mock interviewers. Recruiters regularly provide detailed and timely feedback on applicants and 24-7 Intouch hosted a career exploration tour at their facility in

Aurora to showcase a day in the life of a 24-7 Intouch employee.

24- 7 Intouch not only helps prepare our career seekers for employment in customer service, but is also the CWEE partner who hires the most CWEE participants. 24-7 Intouch has hired seven participants this year, and one of those hires has already received a promotion! For all of these reasons and more, 24-7 Intouch was named CWEE's 2018 Employer Partner of the Year.

CWEE is proud to partner with:

Connecting Coloradans to charities and causes they care about most

The Denver Women's Collaborative (DWC) is a group of nine high-impact organizations that serve marginalized women, girls, and their families.